brett's blog

1. Write down your top 5 strengths as a ballplayerThis gives you instant confidence boost and reminds you of what you are great at. If you focus on your strengths, you will play more free and your body will feel more loose and natural.

2. Write down 3 reasons you deserve to make the teamThis will remind you of all of the hard work you have put in and how far you have come in the past year. This too will give you a boost of confidence heading into tryouts.

3. Visualize yourself performing well on tryout dayWhen you visualize your tryout going the way you want, you begin to think with optimism and confidence. The more you visualize, the stronger your mind will be on tryout day.

4. Breathe!Fear is excitement without the breath. When you breathe, it is the first step to turning your fear (or nervousness) into excitement and clarity. Try to breathe in and out through your belly (not your chest) and it will help your body relax even more.​5. Stay focused on the task at hand, not on your surroundingsIt’s easy to get caught up in your surroundings (the coaches watching and evaluating you, the feeling of “all eyes on me” being out there all alone performing in front of everyone). If you can focus instead on executing the one simple task at hand, it will help you avoid noticing the tryout environment. Whether one coach or five or more coaches are watching you, you still have to cleanly catch, throw and hit the ball. Keep your focus simple to keep your mind clear.

This is a great story and a great moment of self-reflection on your own thinking. Do you subscribe more often to feeding the Evil Wolf or the Good Wolf with your habitual thoughts on a daily basis?

10 ‘typical’ thoughts feeding the Evil Wolf:

“Once I have…I will be happy”

“I wonder what he/she thinks of me?”

“I wish I was more like him/her.”

“Nothing is seeming to go right for me.”

“I just can’t…”

“If only…., then…”

“I am better than him/her because…”

“I just don’t have enough time in the day.”

“Maybe one day I will…”

“He/she is so annoying because they always…”

10 ‘typical’ thoughts feeding the Good Wolf:

“I am so lucky to have…”

“If I were in his/her shoes, how would I be feeling/thinking?”

“I have all the things I need…and then some.”

“If I apply myself, I can…”

“I just know that good things are coming my way.”

“If I just keep pushing and working hard, I will get through this.”

“Who can I support more today?”

“What’s the story I have created in my head about this?”

“I appreciate how he/she…”

“What is the lesson I can learn from this?”

If you catch yourself feeding the Evil Wolf, don’t beat yourself up. Everyone falls into this trap from time to time (and often frequently and daily). Where real ‘mental toughness’ arises is by having the awareness of your thoughts and simply making the decision to start feeding the Good Wolf instead. All it takes is changing your perspective of a situation to change which wolf you are feeding.

If want to learn other useful tools to apply to your life on a daily basis to enhance your awareness and start feeding the Good Wolf, contact Brett today to set up a mental training session.

“Greatness is not given…It is earned through a purposefully executed daily grind.”

Everywhere you look today, professional and college athletes are a spotlight in the media. Sometimes you will see them portrayed in a positive light, sometimes in a negative light. One athlete that comes to mind who stayed in the positive light throughout his career was Derek Jeter. As Jeter notes in his book The Life You Imagine, one of his keys to success was having what he calls 'inner arrogance'. Inner arrogance is being very cocky and confident on the inside (in your own thinking) but remaining humble to the outside world (how you interact with people and talk about yourself).

Here is what Derek has to say in The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons For Achieving Your Dreams by Derek Jeter and Jack Curry :You have to feel like you’re the best player on the field, the player that thousands of people will stare at all game. They’ll watch how you wiggle the bat high above your shoulders at the plate, how you position yourself with two strikes on a batter, how you’re the first teammate to greet a player after a homer. Whenever someone tells my father how humble I seem, he’ll chuckle and reveal a secret. He will tell them that I have more inner arrogance than anyone he has ever met.I believe I’m going to get a hit every time up and I’ll let that arrogance drip through in my performance, not in what I say. I believe you have to feel that way, but you don’t have to flaunt your abilities.There’s a difference between having a swagger and being so full of yourself that you’re annoying to be around because every word out of your mouth is about how great you are. How much Inner Arrogance do you have? Are you cocky enough on the inside? Are you over-cocky to the outside world? You decide…

If you are looking for new, creative ways to develop your confidence, contact Brett today to set up a coaching session.

“Greatness is not given…It is earned through a purposefully executed daily grind.” ​

What is FEEL? Feel is having awareness of what is going on around you as well as your own thinking/behavior. If you have feel, you have high awareness of these things. Feel is not to be mistaken with not being accepting of others, it just means having high awareness of what thinking/behavior yields success most frequently in today’s society.

Feel is all about awareness. Awareness is a trait that can be developed. It requires you to be present and ‘in the moment’ with whatever you are doing at the time as well as being mindful of your thoughts and truly knowing who you are, what you are all about and how you want to represent yourself.

What is GRIT? Grit is all about tenacity and resiliency. ALL successful people have a high degree of grit with regards to how they go about their business on a day to day basis. Having grit requires the ability to remain calm, steady and optimistic in the face of failure/hardship and to never give up. Some of the ‘grittiest’ athletes that come to my mind are Michael Jordan, John Elway and Dustin Pedroia.

Grit is simply a mindset and a way of thinking that comes with having a clear purpose for ‘why you do what you do.’ If you stick to that purpose and find a way to always believe in yourself/your team no matter what circumstance you face you’d be able to overcome any obstacle in your path. Gritty people don’t know the words Can’t, Never and Hopeless. They avoid excuses and focus on solutions rather than problems.